The New York Academy of Sciences is the third-oldest scientific society and among the most prestigious in the United States. An independent, non-profit organization with more than 25,000 members in 140 countries, the Academy’s mission is to advance understanding of science and technology. It identifies and promotes scientific advances across disciplines and professional and geographic boundaries, and builds bridges and synergies between institutions and individuals. It helps to expand scientific knowledge by convening leading experts in meetings, seminars, and interdisciplinary conferences, and by disseminating information through both print and electronic media. The president and CEO is Ellis Rubinstein; the current chair of the board of governors of the Academy is Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor, The State University of New York (SUNY).

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The Academy’s wide range of programs include its internationally acclaimed annual schedule of major interdisciplinary symposia on basic or applied frontier research fields; its robust publishing and dissemination initiatives; its efforts to improve science literacy; and its work in support of the human rights of scientists.

Since 2002, under the leadership of President Ellis Rubinstein, the Academy has undertaken new programs to better serve its constituencies by fostering the creation of mini-communities of common interest. These include the Frontiers of Science Program of interdisciplinary discussion groups at the cutting edge of emerging areas in biological sciences; the Science Alliance program, which encompasses 30 higher education institutions from throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia and offers career-oriented programming for graduate students and postdocs; and the Physical Sciences and Engineering program, which provides a novel and critical forum for the exchange of new ideas and data in emerging interdisciplinary areas. Areas of particular emphasis at the Academy in recent years include fields like systems biology, genome integrity, emerging infectious diseases, nanobiotechnology, cosmology, green science and sustainability, string theory, and quantitative finance, among others.

The Academy has an extensive publishing program, anchored by the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, the oldest (since 1823) continuously published scientific series in the U.S. In recent years, the Academy also has developed an innovative and extensive series of electronic briefings, online multimedia postings that offer overviews of NYAS and partner events for worldwide scientific audiences.

One of the Academy’s initiatives is Scientists Without Borders, a collaborative program with the United Nations Millennium Project and other key partners. Launched on May 12, 2008, Scientists Without Borders is designed to establish a global network of scientists, institutions, academies, industry experts and funding agencies that will address health and other crucial needs of the developing world.

The Academy’s most recent initiative is The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science. Under the leadership of the Executive Director, Dr. Mandana Arabi, the institute is generating a coordinated network across sectors, disciplines, and geographies that promotes open communication; encourages exchange of information and resources; nurtures the next generation of scientists; and drives community intervention design and public policy changes related to the future of food and nutrition.

Founded in 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences (originally called the Lyceum of Natural History) has evolved from a notable institution in the greater New York area to one of the most significant organizations in the international scientific community. Since its beginnings, Academy membership has included prominent leaders in the sciences, business, academia and government, including Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur, Charles Darwin, Margaret Mead, and Albert Einstein. In 2007, members included an unprecedented number of Nobel Laureates (23) on its advisory President’s Council alone and other luminaries from all walks of life.

Academy accomplishments include many historic “firsts,” such as publication of the first studies on environmental pollution (1876)[citation needed]; the first conference on antibiotics (1946)[citation needed]; a groundbreaking gathering on the cardiovascular effects of smoking (1960)[citation needed]; and the world’s first major conferences on AIDS (1983)[citation needed] and SARS (2003)[citation needed]. The Academy also held landmark conferences on the special challenges facing women in science (1998)[citation needed]; music and neuroscience (2000)[citation needed]; and a conference in China on the Frontiers of Biomedical Science (2005)[citation needed]. NYAS members also played prominent roles in the establishment of New York University (1831)[citation needed] and the American Museum of Natural History (1858)[citation needed].

In 2006, the Academy moved into a new home on the 40th floor of 7 World Trade Center, one of the world’s most technologically advanced “green” buildings in New York. With state-of-the-art meeting facilities, the 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) space better meets the needs of the Academy’s growing membership and expanding programs.[citation needed]

The Committee on the Human Rights of Scientists was created in 1978 to support and promote the human rights of scientists, health professionals, engineers, and educators around the world. The committee intervenes on behalf of colleagues in the sciences who have been detained, imprisoned, exiled, or deprived of the rights to pursue science, communicate their findings to their peers and the general public, and travel freely.

The full name is "Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights of Scientists Award", it is given to scientists for their contributions to safeguard or advance the human rights of scientists all across the world. It was retitled in 1986.[1]